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>> SEAN Being imprisoned at Eastern State Penitentiary, probably an experience that
drove some people insane. It was built with this belief that people are inherently good
and can be rehabilitated with silence. Eastern State Penitentiary is one of the most amazing
artifacts that most of our visitors will ever see, that I've ever seen. When you walk through
the building, it's a ruin. It was once one of the most influential prisons in the world.
It survived generation after generation after generation.
>> SETH Eastern State has really stepped up to the plate in recent years in focusing on
trying to tell a critical story on imprisonment, incarceration. I bring students here so we
can bridge theory and practice. >> SEAN And in any given week it's always
amazing to me to see just the span of activity that takes place in this building. You could
have a group of Seth's students having a really intellectual and fascinating conversation
and come back in 6 hours and there are people in rubber masks.
[grunts] >> SETH Terror Behind The Walls has received
criticism in the past about possibly trivializing its history through the use of a haunted house.
[screams] >>SETH Sites like this have to be creative
in how they pay the bills. [screams]
>>SEAN We're aware that the nature of Terror Behind The Walls compromises our mission.
There really isn't a model that we can think of where we can have one without the other.
[yelling] >> SEAN Terror Behind The Walls is critical
to preserve this building to tell its story. >> SETH I certainly see Eastern State as sort
of a multifaceted institution that can entertain as well as educate.
>> SEAN I hope that people will come back and spend the time to learn about this building's
history during the day